The last cointest on GCMaine was in 2007 (Thank You - CacheMaine!:)) - Time for another!:D

What is a Cointest? It is fun game or activity, done on forums, where the prize is a Geocoin. These are frequently done on the Geocaching.com Forums for Geocoins. I have decided to bring some of the fun to GeocachingMaine site, again, for this Christmas/Holiday Season. A chance to win a new, unactivated, Antique Gold Pocket Decoder Geocoin from The Caching Place.

First  The Cointest  what do you have to do? :confused: Post to this thread on our forums, a short description of what you do on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. It can contain special memories, times past, what you will do this year, special food you eat, things you do, traditions, etc. Whatever you are comfortable sharing with others and of course on line. :)

If you celebrate another holiday such as Hanukkah (etc.), dont worry ;)  just post what you do and the fun you have over your holiday. :) Everyone is welcome to play! :D

Second  How often can I enter? Just once ~ one (1) time per member of GCMaine. :( I don't want this to end up being folks trying to post more than others. Make your post meaningful. Everyone can enter if registered on the site, but, I will not accept entries from MY family :eek:. Your entry must meet the requirements above. If you have any questions please PM or EM me.

Third  How long is this cointest, when do entries end? When I get on line Christmas morning. It might be early and it might be late  depends on what may be under my tree and where I may go! Soooo, dont try to second guess me for your timing to place an entry on Christmas Morning or you may be too late  or maybe not.

Fourth  How will I choose the winner? Who will decide? Total number of posts will be put into a random number generator and one number will be chosen. IF the number chosen is my post or a post where someone has made just a comment and not an entry :eek:  I will run the generator for the next number who qualifies to be the winner :).

Lastly  How will you know if you won? I will post the results right here in this thread and contact the winner to arrange delivery of your coin.

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays and may the 2010 New Year bring health, happiness and lots of new caching adventures to one and all!

Photo of the prize coin courtesy of TheCachingPlace

Mainiac1957

12-10-2009, 06:11 PM

We aren't even going to be home this Christmas. On Christmas Eve we will be going to the 4:00 Mass at St Joseph's in Brewer. Kathie gets out of work around 11:00. Then I will be driving us to Lewiston to spend the day at her son Greg's house. Later on Christmas day we will travel up to Rumford to spend some time with her Mom and Dad. Then back to Brewer after that. Run, run, run....so what else is new:rolleyes::rolleyes:

JustKev

12-10-2009, 06:40 PM

I work until 6:30 on Christmas Eve so JustPJ66 and I will have a late supper and probably go to bed at a decent hour. Christmas day we'll get up and have our tree. The tradition part comes in when we eat. We'll be eating homemade touchere pie that JustPJ66 will make from a fresh pork shoulder. I never had touchere until I met her and now that I know what I was missing, I love having the chance to be part of her family's tradition.

JustPJ66

12-10-2009, 07:19 PM

My husband mentions most of the things we do (mostly where his stomach is involved) , but one of my recent favorite things is watching my mother Christmas morning opening her presents.

My mom spent years and years giving presents either to us children or to her husband and for alot of those she never got any or got very few gifts. What fun kevin and i had the first year after we moved in here. ( We live here with mom now to help take care of her) I made a Christmas stocking for her as i do every year for kevin.......she was just like a kid......watching her pull items from that sock made my christmas each time her face lit up over a pack of gum.

Christmas isnt about presents or eating it is doing all those things with the people you love! Thats what makes Christmas special for me!

WhereRWe?

12-10-2009, 07:25 PM

Christmas has changed for us since the kids left home, but some traditions remain. We usually have my parents up Christmas eve for dessert - usually something exotic like Bananas Foster (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/bananas-foster-recipe/index.html), or flamed crepes Grand Marnier (http://www.foodreference.com/html/gmcrepe.html). For Christmas breakfast, we always have "Christmas pancakes" - pancakes with chopped red and green maraschino cherries.

:D:D

cano

12-10-2009, 07:55 PM

I will return from my vacation just before xmas, so I will do nothing, sleeping, maybe some unpacking, processing photos, fixing what broke at work when I was gone... I don't really celebrate xmas or anything similar very much :)

cachecrashers4

12-10-2009, 08:25 PM

For Christmas Eve we have appetizers for supper and will let the kids open one present. On Christmas morning, we have our tree after the kids get up. It gets later every year now that the kids are teenagers they like to sleep in. Then by noon we head to my parents and have a tree and dinner there.

98XJSport

12-10-2009, 11:24 PM

Lets see. Every Christmas Eve all my life we went to my grandmothers house. Chrismas carols, good food the works. Usually we would get about 50 people in her house, all relatives. She died oh maybe 8 years ago, but we carried on the tradition to my aunts house. Almost all the same people, with several new great grandchildren.

We stay until the kids can no longer stay awake and all go home. Christmas morning is spent with our immediate family, gifts etc. Then we all return to my Aunts house in force to spend the day, exchange gifts, and eat supper.

Good times, I love having a huge family.

Mainiac1957 This is also all in the Rumford/Mexico area Ill be on the lookout for a yellow JK.

Ekidokai

12-11-2009, 01:18 AM

It's kind of hard to say. My immediate family is all gone now except for my sister. The last few years I spent at nursing homes taking my mother into see relatives and then we would visit with others in the family at their homes.

This year I'll most likely be up in Moscow at a camp with her eating garlic and rosemary infused turkey, rum bread, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, several vegetables, fruit napolitan, anisette biscoti, and farfellette.

pm28570

12-11-2009, 10:33 AM

Christmas Eve evening is spent with close friends who are more family than friends. After sharing time, food and perhaps a glass of wine, then it's a ride around to look at the Christmas lights and decorations.

Christmas morning is very typical with opening of gifts, nice breakfast. Then, a video Skype call to the grandchildren on the west coast. Will try to fit in a nap and close the day!

firefighterjake

12-11-2009, 10:35 AM

Christmas for me these days is very low key . . . but as a Yeti . . . rarely seen in public . . . especially at public geocaching events . . . we tend to like our solitary, quiet, low-key existence. ;)

As a kid we had several holiday traditions and memories.

As a young child I remember going into the woods with my father to find the perfect Christmas tree . . . of course the tree we found would never measure up to the trees you see at today's Christmas tree farms, the tree stands in the city parking lots or the artificial trees . . . but somehow it didn't matter . . . it was our tree . . . and we picked it out.

There was one minor incident involving a tree . . . I think it was in the first or second grade. My Dad and I volunteered to bring in a tree. This was back in the late 1970s and early 1980s when kids still had Christmas pageants, parties and exchanged gifts -- and when live Christmas trees were allowed in schools. For the first time ever my father and I found the perfectly shaped Christmas tree on our property -- it was full and had the perfect shape. It looked beautiful. Unfortunately, several days later, after setting up the tree and decorating it, we discovered that this tree was a "cat spruce" -- famous or infamous as they usually have a great, full shape, but once inside smell as if you're standing next to a half dozen rank litter boxes which about two dozen cats have been using steadily for the past week and a half. Needless to say we went out and got another tree which was not as pretty, but smelled much nicer.

My Dad often made more than a few Christmas faux pas . . . like the year when Mom asked him to make a Christmas star out of 2 x 4s and Christmas lights. However, Dad couldn't figure out how to make the traditional five pointed star and so made a six pointed star . . . that's right the Jewish Star of David. That Christmas there were more than a few confused neighbors who thought our family had converted to Judaism and were celebrating Hannukah.

As young children Christmas Eve was pretty special. In the week or two before Christmas WABI Channel 5 would air the Santa and Friends special -- a locally produced program. The highlight of the puppet shows, music and apperance of Santa was always the reading of the list . . . my brother, sister and I would always hover around the TV, not speaking a word, until we had heard our name read out on TV so we would know that we were on the "Nice" list and would get some toys for Christmas.

That evening we would also watch the evening news . . . something we normally would not do as kids . . . simply because we wanted to see if NORAD had started tracking Santa on radar. However, the really unique tradition (unbeknowst to us children) was when my grandfather (Pampa) would walk down the hill and start ringing the sleigh bells that belonged to my great-grandfather. When we heard those bells us kids would drop to the floor and start army crawling to our bed so Santa wouldn't look in the windows, see we were still awake and drive on. To add to the whole illusion, in what has to be one of the more warped traditions, my grandfather would always keep a hooved deer leg around from whatever deer my Uncle shot in the Fall . . . and he would take that leg and make hoof impressions in the snow so the next morning we would see all those hoof prints and be convinced reindeer were on our front lawn.

On Christmas morning we would wake up early . . . very early. Since our parents did not relish getting up at 4 a.m. they allowed us to look at our stocking . . . and eat the Poptart which was included as a treat since we never got Poptarts during the year . . . well actually we ate the Poptart along with the usual apple and orange in the stocking (a real Maine tradition!)

Probably my worse Christmas was the year when I woke up sick with the flu. I was so sick that I could barely muster the energy to get out of bed and get to the couch . . . however as sick as I was I really wanted to find out what Santa and my parents had got me . . . and so I enlisted my sister to open the gifts. To this day she feels bad about opening each and every one of my gifts . . . but at the time I just couldn't bear with the idea of not knowing what I had received for a gift.

The best Christmas memory however is one shared by my younger brother. It illustrates how it is not the expense of the gift, the size of the gift or the number of gifts that matter to a kid . . . it is about the moment, the memory. My brother and I woke up as usual and after looking through our stocking saw that Santa had left us two Paris sleds -- the orange plastic sleds. Call it a Christmas Miracle or just luck, but during the overnight an ice storm had passed through the area coating everything in thick ice which began to glisten and sparkle in the light of the rising sun. My brother and I went outside and began sliding on the small hill on the side of the house . . . until we realized that we had the perfect opportunity. Since it was still early the snowplow/sander had not yet been up the hill on our road . . . and no one was out driving . . . and so we slipped and slided all the way to the top of the long hill and began sliding in what was our own personal bobsled track. For the next hour or so we went down that hill at unprecedented speeds. To this day, my brother and I still remember well that morning.

pm28570

12-11-2009, 11:33 AM

Jake....'ya need to move this to the article area. I really enjoyed your post. I'm sure we all have memories like this, I certainly do.....just not eloquent enough to write.

Christmas for me these days is very low key . . . but as a Yeti . . . rarely seen in public . . . especially at public geocaching events . . . we tend to like our solitary, quiet, low-key existence. ;)

As a kid we had several holiday traditions and memories.

As a young child I remember going into the woods with my father to find the perfect Christmas tree . . . of course the tree we found would never measure up to the trees you see at today's Christmas tree farms, the tree stands in the city parking lots or the artificial trees . . . but somehow it didn't matter . . . it was our tree . . . and we picked it out.

There was one minor incident involving a tree . . . I think it was in the first or second grade. My Dad and I volunteered to bring in a tree. This was back in the late 1970s and early 1980s when kids still had Christmas pageants, parties and exchanged gifts -- and when live Christmas trees were allowed in schools. For the first time ever my father and I found the perfectly shaped Christmas tree on our property -- it was full and had the perfect shape. It looked beautiful. Unfortunately, several days later, after setting up the tree and decorating it, we discovered that this tree was a "cat spruce" -- famous or infamous as they usually have a great, full shape, but once inside smell as if you're standing next to a half dozen rank litter boxes which about two dozen cats have been using steadily for the past week and a half. Needless to say we went out and got another tree which was not as pretty, but smelled much nicer.

My Dad often made more than a few Christmas faux pas . . . like the year when Mom asked him to make a Christmas star out of 2 x 4s and Christmas lights. However, Dad couldn't figure out how to make the traditional five pointed star and so made a six pointed star . . . that's right the Jewish Star of David. That Christmas there were more than a few confused neighbors who thought our family had converted to Judaism and were celebrating Hannukah.

As young children Christmas Eve was pretty special. In the week or two before Christmas WABI Channel 5 would air the Santa and Friends special -- a locally produced program. The highlight of the puppet shows, music and apperance of Santa was always the reading of the list . . . my brother, sister and I would always hover around the TV, not speaking a word, until we had heard our name read out on TV so we would know that we were on the "Nice" list and would get some toys for Christmas.

That evening we would also watch the evening news . . . something we normally would not do as kids . . . simply because we wanted to see if NORAD had started tracking Santa on radar. However, the really unique tradition (unbeknowst to us children) was when my grandfather (Pampa) would walk down the hill and start ringing the sleigh bells that belonged to my great-grandfather. When we heard those bells us kids would drop to the floor and start army crawling to our bed so Santa wouldn't look in the windows, see we were still awake and drive on. To add to the whole illusion, in what has to be one of the more warped traditions, my grandfather would always keep a hooved deer leg around from whatever deer my Uncle shot in the Fall . . . and he would take that leg and make hoof impressions in the snow so the next morning we would see all those hoof prints and be convinced reindeer were on our front lawn.

On Christmas morning we would wake up early . . . very early. Since our parents did not relish getting up at 4 a.m. they allowed us to look at our stocking . . . and eat the Poptart which was included as a treat since we never got Poptarts during the year . . . well actually we ate the Poptart along with the usual apple and orange in the stocking (a real Maine tradition!)

Probably my worse Christmas was the year when I woke up sick with the flu. I was so sick that I could barely muster the energy to get out of bed and get to the couch . . . however as sick as I was I really wanted to find out what Santa and my parents had got me . . . and so I enlisted my sister to open the gifts. To this day she feels bad about opening each and every one of my gifts . . . but at the time I just couldn't bear with the idea of not knowing what I had received for a gift.

The best Christmas memory however is one shared by my younger brother. It illustrates how it is not the expense of the gift, the size of the gift or the number of gifts that matter to a kid . . . it is about the moment, the memory. My brother and I woke up as usual and after looking through our stocking saw that Santa had left us two Paris sleds -- the orange plastic sleds. Call it a Christmas Miracle or just luck, but during the overnight an ice storm had passed through the area coating everything in thick ice which began to glisten and sparkle in the light of the rising sun. My brother and I went outside and began sliding on the small hill on the side of the house . . . until we realized that we had the perfect opportunity. Since it was still early the snowplow/sander had not yet been up the hill on our road . . . and no one was out driving . . . and so we slipped and slided all the way to the top of the long hill and began sliding in what was our own personal bobsled track. For the next hour or so we went down that hill at unprecedented speeds. To this day, my brother and I still remember well that morning.

firefighterjake

12-11-2009, 02:03 PM

And then there was this time that all I wanted for Christmas was a Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot BB gun . . . oh wait a minute . . . that wasn't me . . . that was Ralphie. ;)

Mapachi

12-11-2009, 08:50 PM

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

hollora

12-11-2009, 11:53 PM

Yes, it is a great idea - to escape from the usual. Now, Mapachi - to be entered into this contest - answer one of the questions I posed in my original post, please (edit the old or post a new). I would hate to have random number generator select you and because it was just a comment post you be ineligible.
What a great idea! I may do the same!

EMSDanel

12-13-2009, 10:16 AM

I spent 1984 - 1987 in Saudi Arabia as part of a team that was sent to help set up the kingdom's EMS system. Our project was just one of 15 that were over there helping them develop their infrastructure. All of us Americans were housed together in various "compounds" ....gated mini communities....around Riyadh. Our particular compound had 15 homes - seven homes on one side, then a pool, eight homes on the other side and a road down the middle. Knowing I was going to be there for a few years I had shipped with my other belongings some Christmas lights, a small artificial tree, and other decorations.

Being literally on the opposite side of the world, it's at times like Christmas that you really miss being home. Well, as that first Christmas approached I decorated the inside and then hung Christmas lights around the porch on the outside of our house. I did not anticipate the reaction from our neighbors..... They were aghast that I would dare do such a thing in a Muslim country and that I would get them all in trouble. You see, they were all feeling sad that they were so far from their own homes back in the U.S. over Christmas time and couldn't really celebrate Christmas they way they wanted to. But I left the lights up and no trouble ensued.

And then, much to our surprise, at 8:00pm on Christmas eve all the families in our compound gathered outside our door and sang Christmas carols. I brought out our little 30" artificial tree all decorated and it was very, very special. Carrying out long-time tradtions is important and this was quite uplifting. Somehow people find a way........

vicbiker

12-13-2009, 07:25 PM

My mother left me with one of the greatest gifts a person could ever receive, sixty years of hand written journals. Starting in 1936 they tell the story of my mother growing up in Salem, Mass., taking care of her four brothers and one sister after the death of her own mother, of moving to Maine and marrying my dad in 1947, and of course the happiest day in her life, giving birth to me. I'm sure you can imagine what a treasured collection of stories these are to me and my brother now that both parents are gone. The pages are filled with family stories, one of which I thought fit this catergory...The entry is for Dec. 10th 1954...it tells of my dad coming home from work at the Navy Yard in Kittery Me. Seems on the way home the old ford coupe had some engine troubles and he was barely able to make it to the garage in our home town of Limerick. My mother writes that her entire Chistmas savings will have to go to fixing the car, as my dad has to have it to get to work. She also writes that she has no idea how she will explain to me, six years old at the time and my little brother who is four, that there won't be any presents for Christmas.

The cost of fixing the old ford....thirteen dollars.

Everytime I read that story I think of my childhood and I remember the wonderful Christmas' we had growing up, the great toys we received for presents and to think that my mother could have done this on a budget of thirteen dollars...how the times have changed.

hollora

12-19-2009, 01:17 PM

Time to bring this one up so folks make sure to enter. Go to Post #1 for the rules and information.

hollora

12-21-2009, 10:21 AM

Thirteen folks have entered the cointest to date. :) Some may be waiting until the very end - maybe on Christmas eve. Remember this ends on Christmas morning, when I decide to turn on my computer - just four short mornings from now.

Mapachi's post will be considered an entry even though he didn't edit it. Am taking it he intends to sleep through Christmas or sleeping is his tradition. That's cool! LOL ;)

The more entries the more fun. If the random number generator selects an excluded post (to date posts 1, 12, 13, 15, 18, & 19), I will run it again until it hits a valid entry.

Thanks everyone for your posts.

PS - for anyone not sure what this is about - go back to page 1 and read post 1

Gob-ler

12-21-2009, 02:36 PM

Christmas Eve is a busy day for us. The office is usually closed, but we are about taking care of the last minute bellringing activities.

We usually have a Candle Light Carole Sing at the church and then home to relax with something special for dinner. We sure are going to miss the Christmas Eve Lobsters this year.

Christmas Day is usually very quiet for us. We do the gift thing after reading Luke 2 (it is of course the Christmas Story) and then a special breakfast. Dinner is mid afternoon with either a Standing Rib Roast or Christmas Ham.

The really special part of the day is the phone calls to and from family spread all over the north east.

We are always reminded that it is more blessed to give than to receive!

Merry Christmas!

Maine Family

12-21-2009, 04:27 PM

I figured my first post just might as well go to the first person I met after starting to geocache. Our Christmas begins the day after Thanksgiving. Instead of doing black Friday, we do the Christmas tree and go through all the ornaments from Christmas past. Each one has a memory and lots of stories. Then we each find an ornament that represents us for this year to be put under the tree. Now Christmas Eve my husband and I take our grandson to Dover looking at the lights and end up at Foxcroft Academy where Santa and the reindeer are. Then we have to come home because Santa is in Dover so we have to hurry and go to bed. Used to work so well with my daughter, my grandson is so much harder to fool. My daughter and her boyfriend will arrive some time Christmas Eve. Before my grandson goes to bed he will put out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. This is what he is so excited about because he made cookies that look like trains. Christmas morning we will open the presents when someone wakes up to wake everyone else up. Used to be 12:01 when my daughter was younger but I don't know what time my grandson will get up. He is more interested in going ice shacking Christmas day. That is the only day Papa has off so Papa is going to take him down back to the ice shack. He likes ice fishing but it doesn't top hot cocoa in the ice shack so he calls it ice shacking. They will do that after we have breakfast. While they are ice shacking we will cook dinner, then call down and tell them they have to come up for dinner. After dinner they will go back to the ice shack and spend the afternoon. My daughter and I will take down the decorations and tree. Pack them away for next year plus the new ones.
Christmas isn't like it used to be but I think my grandson ice shacking on Christmas day will make for a nice memory.

dubord207

12-21-2009, 06:52 PM

Christmas has been a wondrous event for the Dubord clan for as long as I can remember. Christmas eve was at gram and gramps in Waterville. My grandmother was a phenomenal pianist having used her talent to pay my grandfather's way through law school during the Depressionn. She played the carols and we all sang.
.
Being Francos, there was a lot of tourtiere pie and after my dad and uncle Richard got into the Christmas spirits, there were a lot of carols in what I can only guess was rather rough "waterville south end French."

I think I started questioning the Santa situation when a I was about 5. The year before I stayed up all night listening for things on the roof. When we awoke (actually I never slept) there were no presents at all. Mom said we had to go to church and with a little prayer Santa would make an appearance. Well, I had thought I had this figured out and if we went to church, all of us, then there was no way presents would arrive. Of course, when we returned they were all there! I was a believer again and I think it was at least another 10 years before I figured it out.

As I got older, I became an altar boy and it was a huge honor to be chosen to participate in Midnight Mass service. I can still say all the Latin prayers.

My parents always did some form of anonymous giving during the holidays in spite of their modest means. My sister and I have followed suit and it's the part of Christmas that I like the best...best after getting together with my family.

I had added Christmas carols to my repetoire on the piano and enjoy playing them for family and friends. Di says my version of Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire sounds like something Jonathan Edwards wrote!

So I love this time of year and the time spent with friends and family. I'm staying up all night again this year to see what Di and Santa have for us!

Cache Maine

12-21-2009, 07:48 PM

Things change for us every year for Christmas...and it will hold true again this year. We try to get the whole gang together once, but it looks like it might not happen this year. Then again, amazing things happen during the holidays so it might all work out in the end. Whatever way it goes, we are okay with that.

Thanks for the cointest Hollora.

Merry Christmas all!

WhereRWe?

12-21-2009, 08:26 PM

I've enjoyed following this thread - so many great stories and remembrances.

As a father, I just wish our kids would be with us at Christmas - like the "old days". But they're on their own now...

Sheesh!

robt

12-21-2009, 09:46 PM

My Christmas Traditions change slightly every year but I usually try to get my daughter to try to come over for Christmas Eve and we go out and drive around and look at the lights. Then on Christmas Day at some point the family gets together and opens presents under the tree and dinner.

pjpreb

12-21-2009, 10:41 PM

My dad would play carols at the piano and when he sang "O Little Town of Bethlehem" it was the most beautiful song I ever heard. He still plays that for me every year and it still makes my eyes misty :)

My dad would play carols at the piano and when he sang "O Little Town of Bethlehem" it was the most beautiful song I ever heard. He still plays that for me every year and it still makes my eyes misty :)

Wish I knew how to post a photo :(

brdad

12-22-2009, 08:22 AM

Wish I knew how to post a photo :(

Upload the photo to somewhere online then click this button http://www.geocachingmaine.org/forum/images/editor/insertimage.gif and select the matching URL.

OR...

If the picture is on your computer, and you're using the advanced post scroll down and click the Manage attachments button and select the file from there. If you're not using the advanced edit, click on the Go Advanced button under the edit box.

pjpreb

12-22-2009, 07:18 PM

Upload the photo to somewhere online then click this button http://www.geocachingmaine.org/forum/images/editor/insertimage.gif and select the matching URL.

OR...

If the picture is on your computer, and you're using the advanced post scroll down and click the Manage attachments button and select the file from there. If you're not using the advanced edit, click on the Go Advanced button under the edit box.

I did that. My photo is on photobucket and it didn't work right :(

brdad

12-22-2009, 07:54 PM

I did that. My photo is on photobucket and it didn't work right :(

With photobucket, just copy the img code from the image page as shown below. Paste it right directly into the edit box.

Sorry, hollora for sidetracking your thread. I'd post what I do on Christmas, but I'm a curmudgeon in that department too. We usually do have family come over for dinner and a few exchanges of gifts. We'd rather be in some warmer state caching, and one of these years we may just do that!

If that accidentally qualifies for an entry, let my entry count as an extra entry for the next to the last person who posts before the deadline. :)

Haffy

12-23-2009, 10:10 AM

With photobucket, just copy the img code from the image page as shown below. Paste it right directly into the edit box.

That's how I've always done it and it works great.

Team Richards

12-23-2009, 08:22 PM

On Christmas eve day me and my family are getting ready for my Mom's family to come over. Sometimes friends of my Mom and Dad stop by for a visit. My Mom and Dad are cooking and my brother and I are cleaning, and I don't like it! In the afternoon we all have a perfect Christmas eve lunch, Then we all open our presents!
Then the next day (Christmas) my Mom, my Dad, my brother and I unwrap all our presents. Then we cook waffles for breakfast. Then we go to my aunt Karen's house (Dad's sister) and open the presents they gave us. Then I play with all my toys until we have lunch.:) "W"

Waterski

12-23-2009, 10:54 PM

Our usual tradition is on Christmas Eve to gather the family for a Haddock Chowder and open a few gifts from each other. We sometimes shut off all the lights, light a candle for everyone in the family, and pass around the bible and read the xmas story by candle light ( and sometimes a flash light!) Santa Claus usually stops by early in the evening during this time, and we get a few laughs and sing to him before he leaves. When the kids were little it was great fun.
When I was young I remember that Santa's beard lost a bit of hair when he went up our fireplace, and I found it there on xmas morning. ( That hair was very much like my grandfather's horses mane, I learned later in life.) During a recent Christmas Eve, and since geocaching came into our life, my son and I have been known to go out on Christmas Eve after our family gathering, with a flashlight to some of our geocaching friend's houses with gifts. By flashlight we have found the co-ords in a spot in their yard, left them a hidden Christmas gift, and ajoke story/letter about their family in their door to read, rung the bell, ran like heck back to the car and took off. Their families loved the geo search in the dark for the gift. It was a corny idea, but we made good memories and had some laughs doing it. Well, I am off to finish that chowder..... Merry Christmas everyone!

kayaking loon

12-24-2009, 10:42 AM

Early memories: roaming the woods with my favorite uncle looking for the "perfect" balsam fir. Christmas morning, sitting at the top of the stairs waiting for 6AM, the time when I was allowed to go down. The stocking, breakfast, Christmas with my parents. Then my favorite part, Christmas with my uncle in his one room camp back of our house, heated by a woodstove and lighted with kerosene lamps. And his great gifts: snowshoes, skis, sleds, once a toboggan, and the best part, we did things together. Winter evenings were spent building with the erector set, setting up the toy train, the farm. And days were spent snowshoeing the snowy woods, sliding, skating. After Chrismtas dinner at our house, the afternoon was spent at my grandparents' house on Southport, where there was a very large gathering.

Later memories: going to college in Boston. Saving what I could from my lunch money to buy presents. Walking down Commonweath Avenue, across the Public Gardens, stopping at the Nativity scene on Boston Common, staring in store windows on Washington Street. Caroling on Beacon Street with the girls from my dorm. Going home with my treasures. Doing all the baking. My mother washed the dishes and I cooked: chocolate mint surprise cookies, fruitcake, gold and silver cake, nut cake with caramel frosting. Pies. Yeast rolls and Hungarian coffeecake for Christmas breakfast.

After college and marriage, having real money to spend for gifts! Christmas with our daughter at our home, then with my parents at their house. Everyone gathering at our house for dinner. Burning the Yule log in our big fireplace. Christmas later with Stan's parents.

Fast forward: Picking up our daughter in Portland, as she came home from Boston or NYC for Christmas. Stopping in LL Bean to enjoy the lights and color and atmsophere.

Now: Christmas in the snowy woods, deer in the yard. A morning walk. Christmas with our daughter. Exchanging presents with friends. Cookie swaps, soup and cookie parties. The Lion's Club senior citizens Christmas dinner. After Christmas, a second one in Boothbay Harbor with my 93 year old father and Stan's 101 year old mother. And still the fruitcake, the chocolate mint surprise cookies, the Hungarian coffeecake...

Merry Christmas everyone! Here's to more good memories...

pjpreb

12-24-2009, 06:34 PM

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/pjpreb/Deasy98.jpg

An old photo of my dad at his piano with me & my sister :)

This photo reminds me of sitting beside him on the piano bench while he played Christmas carols and sang to us. His voice was the sweetest music I ever heard and " O Little Town of Bethlehem" was my favorite :)

Thanks for the help with the photo posting advice :)

WhereRWe?

12-24-2009, 08:29 PM

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y33/pjpreb/Deasy98.jpg

An old photo of my dad at his piano with me & my sister :)

This photo reminds me of sitting beside him on the piano bench while he played Christmas carols and sang to us. His voice was the sweetest music I ever heard and " O Little Town of Bethlehem" was my favorite :)

I almost think this photo was the best of the thread! LOL! Thanks for posting it.

(And I really like the "Christmas dog", too.)

I think this link (http://tinyurl.com/yjxnhqc) is appropriate.

Trick or Treat

12-25-2009, 01:43 AM

I have one sister and every year she would be up at dawn Christmas morning and waking the rest of the family. My parents finally made two rules: no getting anyone up before 7am AND the coffee had to be made. In fact, Santa started leaving a gift next to the coffee maker for the sister who got there first. Kayla and I are both at our folks house for the long Christmas weekend; wonder who will get to the coffee pot first tomorrow morning...

hollora

12-25-2009, 08:40 AM

7:36AM - Up and ready to hitch up the reindeer and get the sled going northbound. So - we punched 1 through 37 into the random number generator at random.org. We had 24 valid entries out of 37 posts.